How do I start a message board in benighted Los Angeles?

As I've indicated ad nauseum on the PS board, I'm moving to LA - specifically a neighborhood called Los Feliz. It's a pretty nice place, lots of NY transplants, but for reasons I can't fathom except that it goes to the generally soullessness of LA, there's no message board akin to this one. Brooklynian has been an invaluable resource in the 2 years since I've been here and I'd love to start something like it there, just for the one neighborhood or a couple of contiguous neighborhoods. Knowing that I'm not a computer whiz but I'm also not a computer idiot, can anyone suggest a simple way to build a much smaller board that could be used like this one? All I want is the message board function; I don't need all the multiple forums and other dodads. I like the emoticons but could live without. Plain and easy to create trumps fancy and hard to create, is what I'm saying. I really like the way the neighborhood forums look, though - it's an easier way to keep track of threads and responses than the forum on Craigslist, for instance, where the title to every response is visible. I don't know how hard that would be to replicate, but it's a nice feature.

Have you thought about starting a blog? It's free through gmail and you can build a following and even have some fun exploring your new town while you are at it?

Yes, I've thought about a blog and may indeed create one, but that's separate from a message board. I like the general equality of this message board. It feels like it belongs to everyone.

If you want the name of a professional, reasonably-priced website designer, please PM me.